Condone anti-Semitic sentiments

THE EDITOR, Madam:

In late October, a Globe and Mail columnist wrote about how during a recent concert at Vancouver’s Hollywood Theatre, “a band member said something about a free Palestine. This, according to attendee Hanah Van Borek, led to a few shouts from the audience: ‘F*** the Jews!’

“It was clearly audible in her area of the crowd, a person who was with her confirms, but nobody around them shut this down. There were some cheers of support, though. My whole body went into shock,” said Van Borek, who is a Jew.

Ms Van Borek left the venue and explained why to security staff. She said a worker encouraged her to go back inside and reassured her she was safe. “Nobody will be able to tell that you’re Jewish,” the worker told her, recounts Van Borek.

She did return to the show, but Van Borek was – and is – rattled. She supports the band’s right to make political statements. “It was the shouts from this group – and the silence around them – that was alarming,” she said.

For many years I’ve been, and likely will continue to be, a critic of the maltreatment of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel and, with few exceptions, Western mainstream media’s seemingly intentional tokenistic (non)coverage of it. By doing so, that media, whether they realise it or not, have done a disservice to their own reputation and the Israeli/Jewish people themselves. The road to hell is also paved with good intentions.

Having said that, I still never expected the level of anti-Semitism in the West, notably in Canada and the US, since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Jewish people in Israel and around the world must not be collectively blamed for the acts of Israel’s government and military. It’s blatantly immoral for them to be mistreated, if not terrorised, as though they were responsible for what is happening there.

Similarly, Palestinians and Muslims must not be blamed and attacked for the acts of Hamas or other Islamic extremist acts.

There seems to have been much latent animosity towards Jewish people in general, perhaps in part based on erroneous and disproven stereotype, thus completely unmerited. Also, incredible insensitivity was publicly shown towards Jews mourning the victims, especially considering that young Israelis and Jews elsewhere may not be accustomed to carnage of this magnitude.

There is politics. Particularly with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, one can observe widespread ideological and political partisanship via news and commentary. Within social media, the polarised views are especially amplified, largely involving (I believe) non-Jews and non-Palestinians.

News outlets decide which ‘side’ they hate less, thus ‘support’ via politicised posts. I presume they may actually keep track of the bloody match by checking death toll each day.

FRANK STERLE JR

White Rock, BC.

Canada